Newsletter 37 Autumn / early Winter 2018
Following their introduction of brand new buses onto Service 610 on the edge our area, Uno have gone one step further and bought five brand new Wright Streetlite buses for Cranfield services. These buses were launched with a new livery in October, and here we can see 57 (SK 68 TNN) the launch. Š James Thorpe of uno (photo)/Ray Stenning of Best Impressions (livery) 2018 The newsletter of the Bedford Area Bus Users Society, or BABUS, is now brought to you by SuzyScott.com
Welcome to BABUS Newsletter 37 BABUS - serving Bedfordshire Bus Users Since 2005 This BABUS Newsletter is brought to you by Ms Suzy Scott, who can be contacted by post at 2 Wolseley Street, DUNDEE, DD3 7QD. NEW ADDRESS (see Page 4). E-mail suzy.scott@babus.org.uk. She is our Communications Officer [on a part-time basis]. We welcome contributions and corrections from everyone, and please note that the next Newsletter deadline shall be Friday 14th December 2018 (this will be Late Winter 2018 which will mostly consist of Christmas and New Year service changes) Disclaimer; The views and opinions in this Newsletter are those of the individual writing them, not necessarily BABUS unless stated otherwise. The writer’s thoughts are those of the person, and not any other company or group they represent. The BABUS Website is also the responsibility of Suzy Scott (see previous row), and you can find us at www.babus.org.uk. To sign up for the Bulletin Board, which is also there, send Suzy an email with your preferred user name, own name, email, and membership status (i.e. committee, regular member or non-member) so we can set you up accordingly. We are also on Social Media! Find us on Twitter @BABUSbeds or online at www.twitter.com/BABUSbeds You can also join our Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/BABUSbeds/
Our Treasurer and Membership Secretary is Mr Simon Norton who you can contact by post at 6 Hertford Street, CAMBRIDGE, CB4 3AG or by email to simon.norton@babus.org.uk . Simon candeal with Changes of Address, Change from Paper to Digital newsletter (or vice-versa,) Membership Renewals and queries on Payments, and Accounts Payable. For everything else, contact our lovely Secretary, Miss Frances Horwood, BABUS Secretary, 34 Rectory Orchard, Lavendon, OLNEY, MK46 4HB, or by e-mail to frances.horwood@babus.org.uk. To contact us by telephone, call 0871 218 2287 (BBUS). Leave a message, and we will return your call. We legally need to tell you this costs 12p per minute, plus your Network Operator’s Access Charges. Fax us on the same cost basis – 0871 218 3293.
Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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What’s Inside This Time? A quick update from Suzy, Newsletter in Future Liasion Meeting Summary Uno Bus invests in the Cranfield Connect fleet Toddington Chaos Central Bedfordshire introduces new Demand Responsive Transport Major Service Changes Stagecoach from 30th December 2018 Transforming Bedford 2020 Bus Timetables at the Mobility Hub – a reply House of Commons Bus Market Inquiry Other Service Changes September-December 2018 Minutes of BABUS Annual General Meeting All about BABUS
Page 4 Pages 4-5 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Pages 8-26 Pages 27-29 Page 30 Pages 31-36 Page 37 Pages 38-39 Page 40
Who Are We? BABUS – or Bedford Area Bus Users Society in full – are a voluntary Bus User Group. Our aims are threefold; to represent the interests of bus users who either live, work or travel through the Bedford area to encourage people to use buses to act as a focal point between bus users, bus companies and local authorities BABUS has an interest in all bus services operating in Bedford Borough, and most of Central Bedfordshire. BABUS is affiliated to Bus Users UK, the national watchdog for bus passengers, and liaises with several other groups which have areas bordering our own. Members receive a Newsletter, usually every quarter, to keep you informed of our activities. If you have access to the Internet, either at home or at a library, café etc. you will be able to access our website, www.babus.org.uk This includes Members Area access to our Bulletin Board, which keeps you updated between Newsletters. If you are not already a member, why not join us? Send a Cheque/Postal Order (payable to BABUS) for £5 (Individual/Family) or £12 (Group/Corporate) to Simon Norton, 6 Hertford Street, CAMBRIDGE, CB4 3AG, or join online at www.babus.org.uk
Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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A quick update from Suzy – and the Newsletter in future (including CNY) By Suzy Scott (oddly enough!)
are kindly requested to email me their plans for the holidays ASAP, deadline will be Friday 14th December 2018.
Okay, some personal news firstly from Planet Suzy. After eleven years together with my business and life partner (and recently wife) Caroline – ten almost flawless – we’ve split up at the end of July 2018.
Joint Liaison Meeting Summary, 31st July 2018 By Frances Horwood
I’ve been staying in two temporary accommodation places – the current one over the road from the Xplore Dundee bus garage – but as we speak I’m in the overlap period between this temporary place and a new place in Wolseley Street Dundee, which is listed on Page 2. It’s a phased move, got keys 5th November 2018, last bits out of temp place 29th November 2018. As part of this, my company is closing at the end of the year, so my BABUS volunteering reverts to being just through me. BABUS Newsletters are being printed by someone now in Bedford, with distribution part by hand, part Royal Mail. This hopefully explains the delay of over two months with this Newsletter, which I can only apologise for, but my survival had to come first! The printed timetable I advertised in Newsletter 37 won’t be happening – both of you who ordered one have been told! This (37) is an Autumn and early Winter 2018 edition, including all the Stagecoach permanent timetable changes in late December 2018. However, our Christmas and New Year information will continue, in Newsletter 38. This is likely to be only the CNY stuff, plus also summaries of the two liaison meetings w/c 19th November 2018, and anything else that crops up. Operators (other than Stagecoach Bedford and National Express who I already have) Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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ED: There hasn’t been a Grant Palmer liaison meeting around the same time. However we’ve just had another Joint and GP meeting w/c 19th November 2018. It is hoped to have these in with Newsletter 38. Since our last meeting, there was a new Operations Manager at Stagecoach, Shaun Cooper. We met him for the first time at this meeting and hope we can work well together. There were some changes to routes, timetables and operators but these were fairly minor, such as bus timetables being altered slightly to fit in with new train timetables. There were also some diversions in place but these would not cause major disruption. BABUS keeps abreast of work planned for the future. Hence we received an update on Flitwick Railway Station Interchange, which was still at the planning stage, though there would be visible evidence of surveying. The plans would include step-free access to the station platforms. It was envisaged that BABUS representatives would be able to view the plans in September but, at the time of writing, this is unlikely to happen until the New Year. Another major scheme would be the closure of Bromham Road Bridge in Bedford, for www.babus.org.uk
work by Network Rail, in 2019 - 20. It is too soon for plans for diversionary routes to be in place but BABUS is keen to know what the effect on journey times and reliability will be. Some items appear frequently on meeting agendas and one of these is the availability of printed timetables. The difficulty in obtaining these is a perennial topic of conversation on buses and at bus stops. For those people living in places served by Grant Palmer, the company’s timetables are available in the Mobility Hub at Bedford Bus Station and in Bedford Central Library, as well as post offices in various places. I know from personal experience that Stagecoach timetables are not so easy to obtain: some have not been reprinted since times changed some months ago, since Stagecoach are seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. (This only seems to apply to Stagecoach East, since Stagecoach Midlands, at Northampton Bus Station, have stocks of printed timetables and had new ones available promptly when times changed.) Bus stop information in Bedford Borough will be able to be updated more easily when the Borough Council implement new software but this isn’t ready for use yet. BABUS representatives raised two matters reported by our members. One was long delays on the X5; details of the date and time when a particular problem was experienced, were given to the Stagecoach representative. We also raised a drawback of the Real Time Information screens: if a bus is late, it tends to disappear from the screens once the departure time has passed, so people waiting do not know when, or if, the service Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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will arrive. Unfortunately, this seems to be how the system operates and is not something that can be rectified. Uno Bus invests in the Cranfield Connect fleet Information from the operator and Coach and Bus Week.
Uno Bus have invested in five new 10.8m Wright StreetLite DFs (door forward) for the Cranfield Connect service which operates between Bedford and Milton Keynes via Cranfield University. Commenting on the new vehicles Jim Thorpe, Managing Director of Uno Bus, told CBW: “We’ve welcomed five new buses to Cranfield this month. Each bus has free WiFi and a striking livery design which refreshes our Cranfield Connect brand. “We’re looking forward to building on the success of the last five years and establishing links between Milton Keynes, Cranfield and Bedford. We’re confident our customers are going to be delighted with the upgrade!” www.babus.org.uk
Toddington Chaos By Simon Norton Several years ago Stagecoach abandoned their long standing route between Bedford and Dunstable. Since the guided busway opened, we have had a situation that has been stable for some years, whereby buses from Bedford, Ampthill and Flitwick (Grant Palmer 42) arrive Toddington at 57 or 00 past the hour and return to Bedford at 58 or 03, while buses from Luton and Dunstable (Centrebus E) arrive at 55 and leave at 00. This means that connections both ways are possible if the buses run on time. Unfortunately neither operator seems to recognise the connection, which they could do by advertising it in their timetables and undertaking to hold their buses a few minutes if the connection is running late. And as from 6 Jan 2019 the whole thing will collapse when Centrebus retime their E to arrive Toddington at 17 past the hour and leave at 20. Southbound passengers won't be so badly off, with a wait of 17-20min offset by a lowered risk of being stranded for an hour, but northbound passengers will have a wait of 41-44min in a village with few amenities. There have been other changes in the area over the years, almost all of them detrimental. The E no longer runs on Saturdays. The X31 no longer provides a direct link between Dunstable and Milton Keynes via the A5. And the 20, which used to provide a direct link between Luton and Toddington via the B579, has been replaced by the 74 to/from Dunstable which is much less frequent.
their needs in the very same area, with the new dual carriageway A5 running from a new motorway junction to pick up the old route close to the A5 junction. As the junction is adjacent to the Midland Main Line, one would need few brains to see the opportunity for a park & ride station. This could have acted as a focus for local bus services to the surrounding area -- and as this area includes both Toddington and Dunstable this would have solved the problem. But it seems to be too much to ask to expect the Department for Transport to think in these terms. We need to bang heads between Central Beds Council, Grant Palmer and Centrebus so that they can provide either an end to end through service or connectional arrangements that work reliably and are advertised to passengers (preferably with through ticketing). .And restore the Saturday service, this being the one day when people who work normal office hours are free to travel to Dunstable for whatever purpose, including shopping at Houghton Regis Morrisons and a day out at Whipsnade Zoo or walking on Dunstable Downs (preferably with some later buses on route 40/A). The gap between Toddington and Houghton Regis is only 9min -- yet this is enough to act as a substantial restriction on people's movements.
Meanwhile, people with access to cars have had huge amounts of money lavished on Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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A quick update from Suzy – and the Newsletter in future (including CNY) By Suzy Scott (oddly enough!)
are kindly requested to email me their plans for the holidays ASAP, deadline will be Friday 14th December 2018.
Okay, some personal news firstly from Planet Suzy. After eleven years together with my business and life partner (and recently wife) Caroline – ten almost flawless – we’ve split up at the end of July 2018.
Joint Liaison Meeting Summary, 31st July 2018 By Frances Horwood
I’ve been staying in two temporary accommodation places – the current one over the road from the Xplore Dundee bus garage – but as we speak I’m in the overlap period between this temporary place and a new place in Wolseley Street Dundee, which is listed on Page 2. It’s a phased move, got keys 5th November 2018, last bits out of temp place 29th November 2018. As part of this, my company is closing at the end of the year, so my BABUS volunteering reverts to being just through me. BABUS Newsletters are being printed by someone now in Bedford, with distribution part by hand, part Royal Mail. This hopefully explains the delay of over two months with this Newsletter, which I can only apologise for, but my survival had to come first! The printed timetable I advertised in Newsletter 37 won’t be happening – both of you who ordered one have been told! This (37) is an Autumn and early Winter 2018 edition, including all the Stagecoach permanent timetable changes in late December 2018. However, our Christmas and New Year information will continue, in Newsletter 38. This is likely to be only the CNY stuff, plus also summaries of the two liaison meetings w/c 19th November 2018, and anything else that crops up. Operators (other than Stagecoach Bedford and National Express who I already have) Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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ED: There hasn’t been a Grant Palmer liaison meeting around the same time. However we’ve just had another Joint and GP meeting w/c 19th November 2018. It is hoped to have these in with Newsletter 38. Since our last meeting, there was a new Operations Manager at Stagecoach, Shaun Cooper. We met him for the first time at this meeting and hope we can work well together. There were some changes to routes, timetables and operators but these were fairly minor, such as bus timetables being altered slightly to fit in with new train timetables. There were also some diversions in place but these would not cause major disruption. BABUS keeps abreast of work planned for the future. Hence we received an update on Flitwick Railway Station Interchange, which was still at the planning stage, though there would be visible evidence of surveying. The plans would include step-free access to the station platforms. It was envisaged that BABUS representatives would be able to view the plans in September but, at the time of writing, this is unlikely to happen until the New Year. Another major scheme would be the closure of Bromham Road Bridge in Bedford, for www.babus.org.uk
Major Service Changes from Stagecoach, from 30th December 2018 – ADVANCE WARNING! From the Stagecoach Website – we have the full selection of new timetables over the coming pages too…. There is also a brief list of some other recent changes on Page 37. Service 2 (Bedford Bus Station – Elstow Park and Ride) and Service 42 (Bedford Bus Station - Ampthill) Service 42 will be been withdrawn. To compensate for this, one bus an hour will continue from Elstow Park & Ride on to Ampthill and Flitwick. There are timing changes to accommodate this route change. Service 9 (Bedford Bus Station – Shortstown) and Services 71/72 (Bedford Bus Station – Hitchin) Services 71+72 will be withdrawn and replaced in part by route 9. Route 9 will operate a revised route/frequency between Bedford and Shortstown. Buses will operate up to every 15 minutes in both directions between Bedford and A600/Harrowden Lane junction. 2 buses per hour will serve new bus stops on the A600 for the New Cardington development, then operate back to Bedford town centre via Southcote, Greycote, South Drive and the Hwy. 2 buses per hour will serve North Drive, Greycote and Southcote before continuing on to Hitchin. One hourly route 9 journey will continue onto Hitchin from Shortstown through Arlesey and Ickelford, one hourly journey will continue to Hitchin via Henlow Camp.
advised to use the Route 50 service operated by Stagecoach Midlands. There is also a change to the timetable with additional journeys between Oakley and Bedford. Service 53 (Bedford Bus Station – Wootton/Cranfield) Due to low passenger use, this service will no longer serve Marston Moretaine, Upper Shelton, Lower Shelton and Cranfield. Buses will instead terminate at Wootton. There are timing changes throughout to accommodate this route change. One journey is rerouted in Kempston as a 53A to replace closed door school service 857. Service 73 (Bedford Bus Station – Sandy – Biggleswade) There are timing changes throughout the timetable to help improve service reliability. Some journeys will now depart 10 minutes later and operate 10 minutes later throughout. Service 81 (Bedford Bus Station – Luton) There are timing changes throughout the timetable to help improve service reliability. Service X5 (Oxford – Bedford – Cambridge) There are timing changes throughout the timetable to help improve service reliability. Additional time has been added throughout the timetable. Closed Door School Services 852 and 857 also withdrawn, but see Service 53 for a replacement for the 857.
Service 51 (Bedford Bus Station – Oakley/Rushden) Due to low passenger use, this service will no longer operate beyond Oakley. Passengers for Rushden are Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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www.babus.org.uk
Major Service Changes from Stagecoach, from 30th December 2018 – ADVANCE WARNING! From the Stagecoach Website – we have the full selection of new timetables over the coming pages too…. There is also a brief list of some other recent changes on Page 37. Service 2 (Bedford Bus Station – Elstow Park and Ride) and Service 42 (Bedford Bus Station - Ampthill) Service 42 will be been withdrawn. To compensate for this, one bus an hour will continue from Elstow Park & Ride on to Ampthill and Flitwick. There are timing changes to accommodate this route change. Service 9 (Bedford Bus Station – Shortstown) and Services 71/72 (Bedford Bus Station – Hitchin) Services 71+72 will be withdrawn and replaced in part by route 9. Route 9 will operate a revised route/frequency between Bedford and Shortstown. Buses will operate up to every 15 minutes in both directions between Bedford and A600/Harrowden Lane junction. 2 buses per hour will serve new bus stops on the A600 for the New Cardington development, then operate back to Bedford town centre via Southcote, Greycote, South Drive and the Hwy. 2 buses per hour will serve North Drive, Greycote and Southcote before continuing on to Hitchin. One hourly route 9 journey will continue onto Hitchin from Shortstown through Arlesey and Ickelford, one hourly journey will continue to Hitchin via Henlow Camp.
advised to use the Route 50 service operated by Stagecoach Midlands. There is also a change to the timetable with additional journeys between Oakley and Bedford. Service 53 (Bedford Bus Station – Wootton/Cranfield) Due to low passenger use, this service will no longer serve Marston Moretaine, Upper Shelton, Lower Shelton and Cranfield. Buses will instead terminate at Wootton. There are timing changes throughout to accommodate this route change. One journey is rerouted in Kempston as a 53A to replace closed door school service 857. Service 73 (Bedford Bus Station – Sandy – Biggleswade) There are timing changes throughout the timetable to help improve service reliability. Some journeys will now depart 10 minutes later and operate 10 minutes later throughout. Service 81 (Bedford Bus Station – Luton) There are timing changes throughout the timetable to help improve service reliability. Service X5 (Oxford – Bedford – Cambridge) There are timing changes throughout the timetable to help improve service reliability. Additional time has been added throughout the timetable. Closed Door School Services 852 and 857 also withdrawn, but see Service 53 for a replacement for the 857.
Service 51 (Bedford Bus Station – Oakley/Rushden) Due to low passenger use, this service will no longer operate beyond Oakley. Passengers for Rushden are Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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Transporting Bedford 2020 Information from Bedford Borough Council – a map showing the areas affected is on the previous page. Mayor Dave Hodgson has announced ‘Transporting Bedford 2020’ an £18 million investment to tackle traffic congestion across our town centre. Major works will take place at key points in the Bedford road network to reduce congestion including the creation of a ‘Smart Corridor’ on Ampthill Road; the signalisation of Shakespeare Road / Ashburnham Road junction; and increased capacity round the Hospital with modifications to the Ampthill Road/Britannia Road/Kempston Road junctions. A number of other traffic signalled junctions will be modernised and the towns urban traffic management and control system - which controls all the traffic lights across the town - will receive a major overhaul. We will also carry out major refurbishment works in the heart of our town centre with traffic reduced to one lane on the High Street, creating more space for shoppers. Alongside improvements on St Pauls Square, this will give a significant boost to our thriving town centre. All road users will benefit, including pedestrians and cyclists. Additional pedestrian and cycling bridges at Cow Bridge junction will make it easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to use this route, while increasing capacity for cars and other vehicles and so reducing congestion. Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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The announcement follows confirmation that the Council’s bid for Government funding was successful, after winning the support of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership. Understanding how traffic moves in and around Bedford town centre is critical to being able to improve the situation for all road users. To help inform decision making and take advantage of funding opportunities, the Council commissioned an in depth study of traffic in the town centre in 2014. This included a survey of traffic and car park use, and also the development of a traffic model which helps to test options for new or reassigned roads. The Bedford Town Centre Strategy study provided us with a baseline to make a bid to the Department for Transport for Local Growth Funding (Round 2). The allocation of £11M was approved by Government for the Bedford Town Centre Regeneration scheme at which the centre was an additional river crossing. These funds were retained by DfT. Subsequently the scope of the scheme (which primarily focused on a new river crossing at Batts Ford) bridge has been deemed unaffordable and alternative ways of delivering the same economic outcomes have been sought. In 2016, Bedford BC was successful in bidding for Local Growth Funding (round 3) funds, securing £4.5M of funds for the Southern Gateway project which is technology and junction improvements along the Ampthill Road. The Borough has now reviewed the totality of the funding and has developed a business case for a combined project worth £18.4M with three main objectives to: www.babus.org.uk
Enhance the permeability of the core town centre, creating better connections between the retail quarter, the cultural quarter, and the Great River Ouse Enhance the management of traffic movements into and across the town to improve journey time reliability To significantly improve the Urban Traffic Management Control Technology provision across the core urban area by introducing smart technology that informs travel behaviour and reacts to transport conditions, and provides travellers with real-time information about traffic and travel conditions to allow them to make informed decisions about travel behaviour
The intention is to deliver a range of public realm, junction improvement and SMART traffic control and traffic signal technology on key routes and junctions and within the town centre between spring 2018 and 2021. The remaining funds are from the Borough’s own contribution.
traffic movements at the pinch point areas. We also carried out topographical surveys, notified utility companies about future changes and carried out surveys of trees and drainage systems. We then used this information to start drawing up detailed designs for the pinch point improvement works. Construction work on some advanced work at Manton lane is planned to start in the summer of 2018. We will be procuring contractors to carry out the main body of works which are scheduled to start early in 2019 and continue through to spring 2019. How to Find Out More & Have Your Say For more information or to make any comments you can email the project team directly at transportingbedford2020@bedford.gov.uk
Or write to us at : Transporting Bedford 2020, Borough Hall, Bedford MK42 9AP
The total funding package is being administered through the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) To be compliant with the SEMLEP Local Assurance Framework, the revised project and funds need to be subject to the due diligence process, as approved by DfT for projects of the size. What Happens Next? Over the winter of 2017 and the spring of 2018 we carried out ANPR and video traffic surveys to better understand Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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www.babus.org.uk
Bus Timetables at the Mobility Hub A reply to what was in Newsletter 36 (Summer 2018) by Jonathan Farr. I feel I should correct some inaccuracies in the latest newsletter regarding the provision of bus timetables at The Mobility Hub in the former tourist office. I have been volunteering at the Mobility Hub for Bedford Shopmobility since it re-opened in September and have recently become involved in this issue on their behalf. The Mobility Hub did have discussions regarding stocking bus information for the main bus operators in the Bedford area. There was no objection to stocking timetables, but as Shopmobility is a registered charity that receives no funding from Bedford Borough Council towards the running costs, pays full rent for the premises occupied and currently operates at a net deficit, it was felt by the trustees and volunteers that a consideration should be sought from bus operators in exchange for providing their timetables. My understanding is that at the time, the main operator in Bedford refused to consider offering any consideration for providing this service.
course welcome reaching agreements with other operators and I will discuss with the trustees whether we wish to approach the main operator again. Please remember that Bedford Shopmobility is a registered charity and is not a tourist information centre or travel information service, it just happens to be located in the former Travel and Tourism Centre. Therefore, any agreement to offer services outside of the core Shopmobility/Mobility Hub functions needs to bring some benefit to our organisation. Certainly, we cannot be reasonably expected nor afford to give up space on which we pay rent for no return. Grant Palmer has been very generous in their offer. We hope the much needed free advertising they are providing will bring in new users to the service and thus create additional income. We remain open to working with any organisation, not just bus operators in any way that can be mutually beneficial.
Following delays in pursuing the issue, I was tasked with contacting the other main operator, Grant Palmer Ltd with a view to pursuing opportunities with them. I am pleased to say that agreement has been reached with Grant Palmer Ltd for them to produce and display on-bus advertising for the Shopmobility service in exchange for the Mobility Hub stocking Grant Palmer timetables. The stand for the timetables was delivered on Monday this week (18th June 2018) along with a supply of service 44 timetables. We are currently awaiting stock for other services. We would of Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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Bus service reliability is becoming more and m ore problematic due to the ever growing issue of congestion. This impacts not only on the punctuality of a bus service, but also results in extended journey times. However, bus operators have not amended their timetables to reflect these extended journey times as they seem to be in denial. For example, if there is a delay on an outbound journey, say Bedford to Hitchin on routes 71 or 72 operated by Stagecoach, then this can only result in delays to the return working from Hitchin to Bedford. Timetables and Real Time Information screens do not reflect the reality of these operations. Another factor that determines the level of congestion in towns and cities is the number of cars that each household owns. This can be anywhere up to four or more and whenever you see vehicles go past you they are mostly occupied by one person, the driver. Motorists think nothing of jumping in their cars to get from A to B, but by so doing so they are contributing to congestion. Is it not time for this government to start educating them about this? The layout of roads in towns and cities can also be a factor that can contribute to the punctuality of bus services, considering that as a nation we are in love with the motor car. Bus priority measures in both local authority areas are limited to putting in the odd bus lane here and there, with little impetus to increase priority measures for buses due to funding cuts. Difficulties have been encountered in bus provision for new residential developments where some residents have effectively blocked bus routes through inconsiderate parking of Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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cars causing services to be withdrawn. An example of this is Fairfield Park in Stotfold. Bus priority measures are also non existent in large scale house building schemes that are submitted to local authorities. With plans for thousands of new homes in the Oxford to Cambridge Arc, and with our geographical area being in the centre of this Arc, local authorities have to ensure that not only the road layout is in place, but also for bus routes to be included in any major developments. Section 106 money must be in place prior to any major planning application being approved. This also acts as a Unique Selling Point to developers and estate agents when selling these homes to know that there is a high quality bus route for these new homeowners to use. The Department for Transports (DfT) policies on buses need to be made more robust in order for bus usage to be made more attractive for people to use. There needs to be more emphasis on how travelling by bus can get people out of their cars and on to buses. An example of this might be to give local authorities the powers to implement congestion charging in towns and cities at certain times when congestion is at its worst at strategic locations with a town or city, for example, during the peak hours of the morning or afternoon and any money raised could be ploughed back into providing good, or better bus services and information systems. Its policies also need to be easy to find on its website, summaries of each document so that people can download. Currently, bus services outside London are deregulated with the financial interests of commercial operators taking precedence over the needs of communities and individuals, especially if commercial www.babus.org.uk
operators have shareholders to service in order to make a profit and boost their revenues as they tend to cherry pick the best routes. Bus services in rural and urban communities are particularly poor given the frequency of the bus service during the course of the week, with little or no service on Sundays. Timetables have been pared to the bone because of budget cuts with parish and town councils not willing to help fund improvements to services through their village or town. Rural communities also have to deal with poor reliability from bus operators should a vehicle break down or fail to appear as scheduled. For example, if you live in a village with an hourly service and the bus doesn’t show up, you have to wait up to another hour for the next bus. This doesn’t help if you have an appointment at the doctors or the hospital in a neighbouring town, or are using the bus for shopping, leisure or to access educational facilities as bus users feel abandoned as most rural bus stops don’t have Real Time Information (RTI) screens fitted due to the costs being prohibitive. Bus operators and local authorities seem ignorant of this issue. Too much reliance is being placed on Community Transport groups by local authorities to “plug the gaps” in the rural network as these groups have limited vehicles and manpower to be really effective. Communities do not have to be “ isolated” to experience difficulties. East Central Bedfordshire has no further education provision, no secondary health care provision, no core centre for services (e.g. Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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cinema) and retail, and limited connectivity with the inter-city rail network. As a result residents face higher costs and extended journey times. The draft Central Bedfordshire Local Transport Plan 3, published in January 2011 noted that “residents average (travel time) of 46 minutes by public transport to hospital compared to 30 minutes nationally”. There has been no serious attempt to integrate bus routes and times with rail services. Within Central Bedfordshire bus services are occasionally unavailable for passengers using trains to and from London at a time that they wish to travel, or after the evening peak restrictions have been lifted. Within Bedford Borough, whilst it is possible to still catch a bus in the evenings, the frequency of them means that large gaps appear in the timetables as bus services wind down for the day. Bus services on Sundays and Bank Holidays have largely disappeared, or do not serve the railway station at the same time that rail services have seen enhancements in the network. People who work on Sundays and Bank Holidays can face difficulties in getting to or from work if they don’t own a car and taxis can be expensive. This is exacerbated by the fact that some of the larger bus operators actually run rail franchises and their bus operations don’t talk to their rail operations and vice versa when planning bus/rail integration schemes!! Whilst BABUS welcomes the proposed bus/rail interchange proposals for Flitwick station we are disappointed that there are no such proposals for the railway station in Bedford, or for Sandy, Biggleswade and Arlesey stations. More needs to be done to www.babus.org.uk
achieve this goal from all participants in order to achieve better results.
thoughts so that they could be included in the final draft.
More needs to be done in order to have integrated bus ticketing on all bus operators services. Currently, the only operators to do so in our area are Stagecoach and Grant Palmer with their Cygnet which allows people to buy one for five pounds and is valid for one days travel on both operators services. We are not aware if Centrebus and Uno have any plans to join this scheme within our geographical area.
At all bus stops there should be up to date timetable displays for all bus operators, as well as Real Time Information (RTI) screens, especially in rural or urban areas. Whilst the installation of RTI screens at bus stops can help identify if a service is running on time, or late with the aid of electronic apps on your smartphone or tablet, there are those passengers who don’t possess either of these devices and have to rely on the information as displayed on the RTI screen to ascertain if that particular service is running on time, or is late. We also believe that bus companies should be doing more to help fund the provision of RTI screens, especially on routes that go through rural areas.
Printed timetable availability in towns, villages, bus stations, railway stations and at other strategic locations is as important a marketing tool as well as downloading them off bus operators websites. Not everybody has access to a computer, tablet or smartphone, or knows how to operate one of these devices, unfortunately, bus companies don’t seem to understand this fact. Some bus companies are bad at marketing their services this way. Are Railway Station Travel Plans fit for purpose when it comes to promoting bus usage and bus/rail integration? My own view of the Bedford Station Travel Plan group is no, it isn’t as it’s little more than “a talking shop” with very little done to address these issues when most people drive to the railway station. Not enough emphasis is laid on Station Travel Plans to promote the usage of bus services that serve railway stations to car drivers. We are not aware of any Station Travel Plan groups that cover Sandy, Biggleswade and Arlesley railway stations. Indeed, the company behind Govia Thameslink paid consultants to produce their own Station Travel Plan for Bedford which was then rejected as not good enough, although they had the discourtesy of not asking bus users for their Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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Whilst bus companies have good management in place who understand the local needs of the communities that they serve, there are those who don’t quite understand this principle. This leads to them making poor operating decisions that impact on the bus user. An example of this is if a major bus company continually changes its management at a local level you end up losing continuity with bus users over local issues that affect bus users on a day to day basis. Councils up and down the country have to “practice what they preach” when it comes to promoting bus services. This has to start “on their doorstep”, i.e. how council employees get to work every day, as most of them will drive to work instead of using some form of public transport, including the bus. Why build your main council offices in the middle of no where so that the only way to get to work is by car, motorbike or bicycle? Why can’t they have a regular bus www.babus.org.uk
quite young children on small bikes. Fortunately, the weather was good. The free paper the following day had a photo on the front page of a street full of cyclists. Car Free Sunday took place during the Heritage Open Days but, according to the paper, there were various special events, some devoted to cycling. The Minister for Mobility considered the event a great success and a good example for Europe. Needless to say, the air quality that day was very much better than on a normal Sunday. While I was there, I saw a piece on the TV news relating to Dunkirk, where buses had been made free of charge, all day, every day. Dunkirk (population 200,000) was said to be the largest town in Europe to have introduced free bus travel. (Around twenty towns in France already had free bus travel.) On my return home, I looked for further information on this, on the Internet, and found plenty. Dunkirk had had free bus travel at weekends for three years. With free travel extended to every day of the week, more buses had been purchased (which had wi-fi and ran on natural gas) and more drivers taken on, so that buses were more frequent, and more bus routes introduced. In addition, there were new bus lanes and traffic lights giving priority to buses. It was anticipated that the percentage of residents using buses would double, from 5% to 10%.
third of people in some parts of the town not owning a car) and would enable them to spend more on other things, so benefitting local businesses. Businesses were contributing to the cost of providing free bus travel; residents would not see their taxes rising to pay for it. Then there would be less congestion and better air quality, which would benefit everybody, whether they used the buses or not. Another benefit was that bus drivers were getting less abuse from passengers and, of course, they no longer had to take fares, which speeded things up considerably. Other towns and cities are considering introducing free bus travel. There is a lot of information on this subject on the Internet, including lists of all the towns which have, or have had, free bus travel, either completely free or free on some days of the week or routes. I obtained the above information from French websites on my return from my holiday in September. Since then, in October, there has been an article about the free bus services in Dunkirk, on The Guardian website. The article is entitled ‘ “ I leave the car at home” : how free buses are revolutionising one French city’.
The local authority had several aims when taking the decision to make bus travel free. The town is not prosperous and has a lot of empty shops in the centre. Free bus travel would be a help to people on low incomes (with almost a Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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Other service changes By Suzy Scott There are major changes from Stagecoach at the end of the year, and a recently introduced DRT service in Central Beds (see elsewhere) but this is a brief summary of what has already happened; th
From w/c 28 August 2018 Centrebus Service 34/34 (St Albans – Dunstable) and NEW Servce 40/40A (Dunstable Circular) 35 withdrawn but new Service 40/40A covers the Kensworth and Whipsnade Zoo. From w/c 1st September 2018 Arriva Leighton Buzzard Local Services 32, 34, 35, D1 Revised timetables, with more buses on D1. Grant Palmer Service 42 (Bedford Flitwick) 07.15 from Flitwick / 16.05 from Bedford journeys withdrawn. Stagecoach Service 71/72 (Bedford – Hitchin) Minor time changes – see under 30th December 2018 changes too. Grant Palmer Service 74 (Bedford – Cople - Biggleswade) Extended to Stratton Upper School, 1 journey am/pm on school days only and minor timetable changes in the afternoon. Red Kite 162 (Stewkley – Bletchley) and 164 (Leighton Buzzard – Cheddington) As part of a Bucks CC retendering package, these services will now be operated by Aylesbury-based Star Travel, with timetable changes. Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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Centrebus Service X31 (Luton – Dunstable) Revised timetable. From w/c 28th October 2018 Arriva Service 25 (Luton – Marsh Farm) Additional journey from Marsh Farm at 06.26. Arriva Service 31 (Luton – Dunstable) Arriva are extending journeys that currently start/finish at Luton & Dunstable Hospital to Browning Road/Poynters Road roundabout. Arriva Service 38 (Luton – Houghton Regis/Dunstable) Arriva have made some minor changes to the route in Luton Town Centre and some changes to timing points at the Hospital. Arriva Services F70/F77 (Luton Bletchley/Milton Keynes) Most F77 journeys are extended to the MK1 Shopping Park, near MK Stadium. From w/c 18th November 2018 Grant Palmer Services CX (Luton – Dunstable) Sunday journeys for 6 weeks leading up to Christmas. From w/c 9th December 2018 Centrebus 85/85A (Biggleswade Town Services) Minor timetable changes for reliability, as well as having changes to accommodate the new Thameslink train timetable.
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Transporting Bedford 2020 Information from Bedford Borough Council – a map showing the areas affected is on the previous page. Mayor Dave Hodgson has announced ‘Transporting Bedford 2020’ an £18 million investment to tackle traffic congestion across our town centre. Major works will take place at key points in the Bedford road network to reduce congestion including the creation of a ‘Smart Corridor’ on Ampthill Road; the signalisation of Shakespeare Road / Ashburnham Road junction; and increased capacity round the Hospital with modifications to the Ampthill Road/Britannia Road/Kempston Road junctions. A number of other traffic signalled junctions will be modernised and the towns urban traffic management and control system - which controls all the traffic lights across the town - will receive a major overhaul. We will also carry out major refurbishment works in the heart of our town centre with traffic reduced to one lane on the High Street, creating more space for shoppers. Alongside improvements on St Pauls Square, this will give a significant boost to our thriving town centre. All road users will benefit, including pedestrians and cyclists. Additional pedestrian and cycling bridges at Cow Bridge junction will make it easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to use this route, while increasing capacity for cars and other vehicles and so reducing congestion. Newsletter 37 – Autumn/early Winter 2018
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The announcement follows confirmation that the Council’s bid for Government funding was successful, after winning the support of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership. Understanding how traffic moves in and around Bedford town centre is critical to being able to improve the situation for all road users. To help inform decision making and take advantage of funding opportunities, the Council commissioned an in depth study of traffic in the town centre in 2014. This included a survey of traffic and car park use, and also the development of a traffic model which helps to test options for new or reassigned roads. The Bedford Town Centre Strategy study provided us with a baseline to make a bid to the Department for Transport for Local Growth Funding (Round 2). The allocation of £11M was approved by Government for the Bedford Town Centre Regeneration scheme at which the centre was an additional river crossing. These funds were retained by DfT. Subsequently the scope of the scheme (which primarily focused on a new river crossing at Batts Ford) bridge has been deemed unaffordable and alternative ways of delivering the same economic outcomes have been sought. In 2016, Bedford BC was successful in bidding for Local Growth Funding (round 3) funds, securing £4.5M of funds for the Southern Gateway project which is technology and junction improvements along the Ampthill Road. The Borough has now reviewed the totality of the funding and has developed a business case for a combined project worth £18.4M with three main objectives to: www.babus.org.uk